


Welcome Home

by liarielle



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Afterlife, F/M, Gen, Happy Ending, I know there’s the major character death warning, Post-How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, Reincarnation, Reunions, Reunions In The Afterlife, but it’s because this is about reunions in the afterlife, so it’s not a sad thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:00:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27085969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liarielle/pseuds/liarielle
Summary: At the end of his life, Hiccup reunites with those he has loved and lost in the most unlikely of places.
Relationships: Eret & Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, Gobber the Belch & Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III & Stoick the Vast, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III & Valka, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III/Astrid Hofferson
Comments: 5
Kudos: 49





	Welcome Home

**Author's Note:**

> Finally got around to seeing the third movie, and had this idea right before going to bed. Decided to write a short drabble for it!

For what feels like no time at all and an eternity in one, there is nothing—and then there’s light. Cascading and dancing everywhere in his vision, in colors Hiccup has never seen before, colors he doesn’t have words for. His vision is sharper than he remembers too. He’s almost certain he can see the cracks and twists in the farthest spire in the cavern. There’s a nagging thought pressing in the back of his mind. 

_I know this place._

It’s been a long time. Decades. This place he glimpsed only once, so very long ago...it looks the same as it did then. How could he forget? 

Of course, that doesn’t mean he understands. Hiccup has no idea how he ended up in The Hidden World, but he does know he can’t stay. If he’s in the first cavern, he should be able to slip out before he’s discovered. 

It’s only when he tries to move more than his head that Hiccup abruptly begins to feel, and realizes that he’s been blissfully numb until this moment. And it’s now that he realizes something is… _wrong_. His limbs are far larger and longer than he remembers, his spine stretching well past what it should. And there are more than the three and a half limbs he expects. A fourth, a fifth, a sixth...

Tail. Wings. 

Hiccup whirls around with a shout that echoes in the chamber, catching sight of his body. There’s no mistaking his form. Dragon. _Night Fury._

“Hiccup!” 

He knows that voice. Oh it’s been so long, too long, but he’d know that voice anywhere. His head swivels, searching for his father, the great form of Stoick the Vast, and-

“Dad?!” Hiccup cries out, eyes wide and locked on the great dragon that lands in front of him with an echoing **BOOM**. A Rumblehorn, towering and imposing and every bit his father. And he’s not alone. One after another, dragons land and cry his name. His mother, a Stormcutter. Gobber, a Hotburple. Eret, a Snow Wraith. On and on, until Hiccup is surrounded by dragons and voices that adorned his life, especially his younger years. If they’re here, then surely...

Though she lands delicately, quietly, Hiccup knows. He swivels to face her, the Deadly Nadder, wrapped in the glittering glow that this cave reveals. 

“Astrid,” he chokes out. “My heart, I...” It’s only been seven months since he lost her, and this isn’t the reunion he expected, but as they twine around one another, purrs rumbling in their chests, he feels _whole_ again. 

“You could’ve kept me waiting a bit longer,” Astrid whispers. “I wouldn’t have minded.”

“I would,” Hiccup buries face against her neck, just for a few moments, before he steps away and embraces his father and mother. It’s not unlike when they were alive, the way they tower over and dwarf him in size. 

“I don’t understand,” Hiccup looks between them imploringly, as Astrid presses herself against his side. “This isn’t...what I expected.”

“It’s certainly not Valhalla,” Gobber agrees with a hearty laugh. “Though I can’t say I mind.”

“Bonding with dragons as we did _changed_ us, son,” his mother’s gentle voice soothes. “Changed our very souls. This is our reward. This marvelous place, these incredible forms. Our dragons.” 

Hiccup’s breath catches in his throat. “Toothless?” His heart warms as gentle, fond laughter blankets around him. 

“Yes,” his mother rumbles. “He’s here, and ready to show you his world.” 

His heart swells and swoops, not unlike the feeling of flying. His father’s head lowers, and Hiccup knocks their foreheads together. “Dad,” is all he can bring himself to say. 

“Welcome home, son.”


End file.
